The six plates that make up this section relate to enduring features of South
Asia's global situation and of the physical environment within South Asia itself.
In a word, we seek here to portray something of the physical stage on which the
drama of South Asian history has been enacted. Though we speak of this stage
as enduring, we do so only in a relative sense; for it should by no means be thought
of as unchanging. For example, we know of significant shifts in the courses of
numerous rivers over the past two and a half millennia, and of the seaward ex-
pansion of major deltas. Further, we are aware of climatic fluctuations which,
even when they seem subtle, may have had profound consequences; but unfor-
tunately we are rarely able to specify with precision the magnitude or the timing
or the rapidity of the changes. In recent times we have been able to measure the
gradual expansion of the Great Indian Desert. Most important, we know that
the scattered, largely degraded forested areas one sees in South Asia today com-
prise only a minor fraction of the total area under forest in that region before
the advent of agriculture. Nevertheless, the distribution of mountains, hill lands,
and plains remains for most practical purposes as it was at the dawn of the Stone
Age; and the relative locations of wet lands and dry and the rhythm of the mon-
soon have altered but little. What has changed profoundly over the centuries is
man's knowledge and appraisal of his environment and the uses to which he has
put it. But those are questions to be considered in later sections of this atlas.

In what follows the discussion will be keyed primarily to the maps and ancillary

materials of atlas section I; but where appropriate we shall also comment on and
illustrate the sorts of changes in the environment to which we have alluded above.
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

The position of South Asia in the world is shown here by
two maps centered on Delhi. We consider these Indocentric
views of the world more appropriate to the purposes of this
atlas than the more conventional Eurocentric or Americocen-
tric views that characterize most world maps in current use.
The first of these (plate I.A.1) is on an azimuthal equal-area
projection. On such a projection a unit area (say one square
inch or one square centimeter) anywhere on the map will rep-
resent a constant proportion of the earth's surface. While areas
on this map thus are true, map distances are progressively con-
tracted from Delhi to the limits of the map. Supplementary
views of the area of South Asia, comparing it with both the
United States and Western Europe, appear in the lower left
and lower right corners of the plate. These simple sketch maps
are drawn on conic, equal-area projections.

An alternative view of South Asia's position in the world is
that drawn on an azimuthal equidistant map (plate I.A.2), on
which all distances are true from Delhi. It is evident that this
projection distorts area by making it progressively larger as
one proceeds from the center to the periphery of the map.
Similarly, the degree of distortion in the representation of dis-
tance from points other than Delhi varies with the distance of
those points from Delhi itself. A table of distances by sea and
air from major world centers to the capitals and principal port
cities of South Asia supplements the information on the map
itself. All air distances on this table are great-circle distances,
whether or not they are traversed by scheduled airlines. The
distances by sea, however, follow normal shipping lanes.

The two plates together show that South Asia occupies a
fairly central and accessible position with respect to the great
land mass made up of Asia, Europe, and Africa. The Amer-
icas, by contrast, are physically remote. But accessibility is not
simply a function of great-circle terrestrial distance. Rather,
we must consider distance along utilizable transport routes,
which is largely contingent on the configuration of the earth's
surface; the relative ease and cost of travel, which are func-

tions of both physical geography and transportation technol-
ogy; and the will of peoples to interact—politically, economi-
cally, and otherwise. These are ultimately the key determinants
in fashioning and reshaping the complex web of human inter-
relationships at any given period of the earth's history. In these
respects we believe that South Asia's relationships with the
rest of the world are in no way exceptional. Many of these re-
lationships will be made manifest in subsequent portions of the
atlas.

Acknowledgments

Maps I.A.1 and 2 were originally drawn for the South Asia
Historical Atlas Project by a computer plotter at the Univer-
sity of Michigan under the direction of Professor Waldo Tobler
of the Department of Geography. The computer programs for
plotting both of the projections employed were themselves de-
veloped by Professor Tobler. We acknowledge, with thanks,
the time Professor Tobler and his associates donated to the
Project in providing us with the original map drafts.

I.B. PHYSIOGRAPHY

The view of South Asia and adjoining areas presented in
plate I.B.1, map (a), is that of a conventional hypsometric
map on which different altitude ranges and ocean depths are
presented by color tints of various intensities. Contours are
drawn at 100, 300, 1,000, and 3,000 meters above sea level.
Depth contours are drawn at 200 and 3,000 meters. Equivalent
altitudes and depths are provided in English feet. The map in-
dicates the names of the principal mountain and hill ranges,
plateaus, plains, deserts, bodies of water, and rivers, as well as
the names and elevations of important peaks and mountain
passes. It will be noted that the altitude difference between
successive contours on this map increases in successively higher
altitude ranges, allowing us to depict in the lower areas, where
most of South Asia's population lives, a degree of topographic
detail that would be of little significance in the more moun-
tainous regions.

In the manner of its presentation of terrain, plate I.B.1, map
(a), differs from and supplements other maps in this atlas on
which surface configuration is shown. The latter maps (e.g.,
most of those dealing with political history), provide a simple
dichotomous representation of terrain, with areas of rugged
terrain, irrespective of altitude, differentiated by uniform shad-
ing from those of smooth terrain, which are left white. The
contours of plate I.B.1 are also shown on an unbound endcover
overlay map, which may profitably be used in conjunction with
many map plates in this atlas.

The essential elements of physiography portrayed on plate
I.B.1 are clear enough to require little comment. Attention is
drawn to the massiveness, continuity, and elevation of the
northern highlands, including the Himalayas and numerous
connecting mountain ranges both to the east and west which
collectively set off the Indian subcontinent from the remainder
of Eurasia; the extensiveness and flatness of the Indo-Gangetic
Plain; the fragmentation of hilly uplands to the south of the
Indo-Gangetic Plain and the resulting compartmentalization of
plains and basins; the asymmetry of drainage patterns in penin-
sular India; and the highly constricted and discontinuous na-
ture of the coastal plains along both coasts of peninsular India.
Supplementing map (a), the photographs of plate I.B.2 pro-
vide views of some of the principal physiographic elements
comprising South Asia.

Map (b) of plate I.B.1 portrays both areas of unconsolidated
sediments and bedrock at or very near the earth's surface. This
provides a fairly reliable, though not infallible, guide to areas
of relatively good agricultural potential—that is, alluvial and
marine sediments—and to those of lesser potential. Needless to
say, most of South Asia's population lives in the former areas,
and it is there that most of the decisive events of South Asian
history have taken place.

Our knowledge of the physiographic changes that have oc-
curred in South Asia since man came to that region is frag-
mentary at best. For the protohistoric and historic periods a
part of what we know of such changes is derived from literary
references dating as far back as Vedic and classical times re-